The Mum:
8 years ago hubby and myself made the decision to move from the Midlands to Derbyshire. Hubby was working in Derbyshire at the time and the daily commute was beginning to take it's toll. The Daughter was nearly 4 and would be starting school soon. If we were going to do it it had to be now before the daughter started making her own "roots". It was the best decision we made. We moved to a small village and the daughter went to the village nursery and then on to the primary school. She made lots of friends within the village and was able to grow in a small friendly community. A far cry from what my hubby and I grew up in and as parents you always endeavour to give your kids a better life. However, to our families we left behind in the Midlands it was the worst thing we could have done - we may as well have been living on the other side of the world as far as they were concerned. To take away their grandaughter, great grandaughter, niece etc was a terrible thing to do. We thought the family would visit often - it was after all only 40 minutes drive away... but no. We began by visiting them every month without fail to make sure they saw the daughter and were not missing out on her growing up. But it was becoming too much - life takes over for everyone including ourselves and visits began to lessen. We would call/text each other, send photos and visit when we could. Then we started going through the "if they can't be bothered to visit, why should we" phase which we soon realised was childish and not fair on the daughter. So now we visit when we can, the daughter stays over with family during holidays and photos, phone calls and texts continue. A good thing has come out of this however, our families and the daughter really appreciate each others visits. I know if we had stayed in the Midlands this would not have been the case, like everything else if it's on your doorstep you take it for granted, whether it's the sea, countryside or family. It's certainly taught the daughter the value of family.
I can't remember much about moving away, although I can't remember many things. I get little flashbacks occasionally when we reminisce and thinking about it now, I remember being sat in the back of the car choosing between three houses on laminated paper and the one I liked was the one we moved into. I can't remember visiting any family after we moved when I was really young, just the past 2 or 3 years. I often look at home videos that are installed on the computer but it doesn't bring much back. I love my family and I do miss them a lot and I really enjoy staying over and spending time with them on a visit even though they think I'm a bit too old for a cuddle. But for a while now, I've realised that if I did live over there, I wouldn't enjoy or appreciate my family as much as I do now. There are many parts of me that wish I could see them more but there are more parts of me that realise the reality of why we don't for example, petrol prices and being really tired in the night and the morning from so much rushing around. Family is a very special thing and I've enjoyed all the times that I've spent with them and I certainly recognise that I'm really, really lucky.
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I can't remember much about moving away, although I can't remember many things. I get little flashbacks occasionally when we reminisce and thinking about it now, I remember being sat in the back of the car choosing between three houses on laminated paper and the one I liked was the one we moved into. I can't remember visiting any family after we moved when I was really young, just the past 2 or 3 years. I often look at home videos that are installed on the computer but it doesn't bring much back. I love my family and I do miss them a lot and I really enjoy staying over and spending time with them on a visit even though they think I'm a bit too old for a cuddle. But for a while now, I've realised that if I did live over there, I wouldn't enjoy or appreciate my family as much as I do now. There are many parts of me that wish I could see them more but there are more parts of me that realise the reality of why we don't for example, petrol prices and being really tired in the night and the morning from so much rushing around. Family is a very special thing and I've enjoyed all the times that I've spent with them and I certainly recognise that I'm really, really lucky.